There are two St Pancrases in London. One is the beautiful gothic station next to Kings Cross (and we'll come to that tomorrow) but the other is much older, differently beautiful and rather more secret. It's certainly somewhere I'd never been before until I edged past the building site to the north of the station and stumbled upon a village church and its unexpected churchyard. And what a pleasant surprise St Pancras Old Church turned out to be. I was charmed by the secluded gardens, tree-shadowed from the blazing sunshine and dotted with tombs and memorials to the long-dead. During my visit I shared the churchyard with three mysterious ladies who were busy getting changed into brightly coloured flowing period dresses. A spiky sundial commemorating Victorian philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts provided an atmospheric backdrop to their ensuing photoshoot (as it did in 1968 when the Beatles shot album sleeve photos here). Shortly the three ladies moved on to the grand fenced-off mini-mausoleum built in memory of Sir John Soane (architect of the Bank of England), whose central dome (believe it or not) inspired Giles Gilbert Scott to design the classic 'K2' telephone kiosk. Maybe the trio were here in remembrance of local novelist Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) who learnt to read by tracing the inscription on her mother's gravestone here, and later spent many a quiet hour sitting reading in the shade of the churchyard. Blimey, there's a lot of history on this site.
Pancras was a Roman teenager, beheaded in Rome in 304AD for failing to renounce his Christian faith. A church dedicated to the newly canonised St Pancras was established here on the banks of the river Fleet a decade later, making St Pancras Old Church one of the oldest Christian sites in the UK. A few Norman features remain but most of the present building is a Victorian restoration, and the Fleet here has long been culverted. In the early 19th century a new (more convenient) St Pancras Church was built half a mile closer to town, leaving the old building to become virtually derelict amongst the slums of Somers Town. And then came the railways. When the Midland Railway sought to find a route across the Regent's Canal into their new London terminus they had two choices - straight through the local gasworks or curve through Old St Pancras graveyard. They chose the latter route because ten thousand dead bodies required no compensation payments - many at the time were not impressed. The apprentice architect charged with overseeing the dignified removal of coffins, bones and human remains was none other than a young ThomasHardy. Under his supervision several headstones were tightly rearranged around one particular ash tree (now named the Hardy Tree) and today the tree roots and stones lie intermingled in silent tribute.
And what do you know, exactly the same thing is happening again because of another new railway, in the 21st century. The last stretch of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link also passes through the old churchyard, and there are 2000 more dead bodies in the way. Or were, because the contractors have already been in with their mechanical diggers and carted off bags of bones for reburial elsewhere. So itsayshere. There are no new news stories, because it seems we never learn from the past.
Reviewing the Fleet
There are two St Pancrases in London. One is the beautiful gothic station next to Kings Cross (and we'll come to that tomorrow) but the other is much older, differently beautiful and rather more secret. It's certainly somewhere I'd never been before until I edged past the building site to the north of the station and stumbled upon a village church and its unexpected churchyard. And what a pleasant surprise St Pancras Old Church turned out to be. I was charmed by the secluded gardens, tree-shadowed from the blazing sunshine and dotted with tombs and memorials to the long-dead. During my visit I shared the churchyard with three mysterious ladies who were busy getting changed into brightly coloured flowing period dresses. A spiky sundial commemorating Victorian philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts provided an atmospheric backdrop to their ensuing photoshoot (as it did in 1968 when the Beatles shot album sleeve photos here). Shortly the three ladies moved on to the grand fenced-off mini-mausoleum built in memory of Sir John Soane (architect of the Bank of England), whose central dome (believe it or not) inspired Giles Gilbert Scott to design the classic 'K2' telephone kiosk. Maybe the trio were here in remembrance of local novelist Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) who learnt to read by tracing the inscription on her mother's gravestone here, and later spent many a quiet hour sitting reading in the shade of the churchyard. Blimey, there's a lot of history on this site.
Hardy was moved to write a poem.
"O passenger, pray list and catch
Reviewing the Fleet
There are two St Pancrases in London. One is the beautiful gothic station next to Kings Cross (and we'll come to that tomorrow) but the other is much older, differently beautiful and rather more secret. It's certainly 
Hardy was moved to write a poem.